Nature Conservancy

Today a playa-rehab success story. Eastern New Mexico rancher John Wood owns a 2,800-acre cow-calf operation about 40 miles north of Clovis. The land has a a 250-acre playa that was rehabbed with the help of The Nature Conservancy.

A well-known resident of an Oklahoma nature reserve has been killed, reports KFOR. Visitors to the J.T. Nickel Preserve near Tahlequah were often greeted by an 8-year-old bull elk, known as “Hollywood.” But last week someone illegally poached Hollywood. His carcass was found, but his head was missing.

Caprock Canyons boasts a unique feature that can’t be found anywhere else in the world, reports The Canyon News. The herd of bison there is the last remaining true herd, genetically identical to the buffalo that roamed the plains before the animals were almost completely decimated at the end of the 19th century. The bison in the park are the direct descendants of the herd Charles Goodnight’s started in 1878.

Scientists in Wichita who’ve been studying the feathers of a small bird called the dark-eyed junco have come across something interesting, and possibly troublesome. The Wichita Eagle reports that scientists found pathogens resting in the birds’ belly feathers. This might not necessarily be a concern normally, but here’s where things get interesting: The winter habitat of juncos is being degraded. Intensified agriculture is causing the birds to choose less than optimal habitats.

Still, it's tough being a lesser prairie chicken these days. This type of grouse once spanned an enormous area, though now they survive mainly in pockets of Oklahoma and Kansas. Their numbers are plummeting; in 2012, the population dropped by half.

The world’s soil is in trouble. Ecologists say without dramatic changes to how we manage land, vast swathes of grassland are at risk of turning into hard-packed desert. To make sure that doesn’t happen, researchers are testing out innovative ways to keep moisture in the soil.

In eastern Colorado, one way could be in the plodding hooves of cattle.

Conventional wisdom tells you, if ranchland ground has less grass, the problem is too many cows. But that’s not always the case. It depends on how you manage them, if you make sure they keep moving.